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Michael Short

The previous guest was Neen Weir, an activist for HIV-positive children who argues Australia should, like most other industrialised nations, change its immigration rules to facilitate adoption of HIV children from Asia and Africa. As many as 200,000 children are dying needlessly each year - and ignorance and fear are the killers, not HIV, Weir argues. She has established a website - superkidsglobal.com - to help create awareness. Below are excerpts of her chat session:

* How sad that we cannot, yet again, be more open hearted to immigration of those in need. How can the average man in the street help change this administrative nightmare for these kids and families? misskb

Activist Neen Weir is pushing to make it easier for families to adopt children with HIV. Photo: Justin McManus

NEEN WEIR’S RESPONSE: Write to your federal MP and ask that they remove the need for a HIV waiver for adoptees' visas to be processed...There is no need for this deterrent/roadblock anymore. The federal government can still keep an eye on the number of HIV children entering as adoptees - as they control the process - without the discriminating and paralysing bureaucracy that deters people from adopting and perpetuates 1980s fears and myths.

* How will you reach the families, doctors and carers in Asia, to re-educate them and the way they approach treatment of the HIV children? The education process will eventually change the way people think, but until then, all those children in need of love and support, and most importantly, medication, right now, need to be helped, and can be through adoption. It’s tragic that so many lives are being lost unnecessarily, when there are so many families looking for children to care and love as their own. It doesn’t make sense, we need to make this an easy, fast process, before we lose any more lives to HIV without any reasons but stigma and fear. Australians can make a difference and give these children a chance at life. Ernie - Sydney

NW: We are looking to educate through film in parts of Asia where the knowledge is very limited and the fear of HIV is so great. If we can show orphanage by orphanage that HIV DOES NOT equal death - that children living with HIV can be registered for treatment, that children with treatment will live a long and healthy life - then we can create behavioural change. If we show countries that these children are valued and westerners value them we start the ripple effect of curiosity and in time confidence that domestically adoptions may occur. Over time as knowledge grows and communities see these children thriving - they will stop discarding them like modern day lepers.

* It seems that the old ignorance=fear=discrimination equation is what’s on the rise again! Neen, how is HIV education currently included in the Australian schools curriculum? It seems to me that a good place to start is to have children in our schools learning about the facts of HIV as a (small) but regular part of sexual health and well-being education - and then educating their parents! Jane - Sydney

NW: HIV is not covered in schools. Principals are very scared about discussing it, I feel. We hope to change that with our education platform. We need to link it into the curriculum with other relevant topics and help make young people have a greater understanding of HIV. Our young people not only need to better understand that unsafe sex practices put them at risk of many concerning disease - not just HIV. We are working with a great guy who put educational materials into UK schools with apps and videos etc. Education is key to prevention of new transmissions, reducing stigma, and better supporting all Australians living with HIV.

ONLINE: The full session is at theage.com.au/federal-politics/the-zone